In November 2024, it will be 20 years since the Right to Food Guidelines (hereafter RtF Guidelines) were adopted by the FAO Council, following negotiations in the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS). Over the past two decades, social movements, Indigenous Peoples and CSOs have used the RtF Guidelines in their struggles and advocacy strategies at national, regional and global levels. The RtF Guidelines have been instrumental in addressing structural causes and key drivers of systemic discrimination and inequalities in food systems, pioneered the national implementation of economic, social and cultural human rights and have informed many national policies and legal reforms.

The 20th Years of the RtF Guidelines provides an important political momentum to reflect on the advanced human rights narrative and human rights-based achievements of the last 20 years, build a renewed commitment by the government towards a new global agenda for the RtFN, expand inter-platform dialogues, cross-sectoral networking and alliance-building, and encourage RtF advocates all over the world to mobilize globally.

The WSF, as a global space and process to develop the collective power of people’s movements and CSOs across the globe has the potential in locating and further expanding discussions around the 20th Years of the RtF Guidelines with right to food advocates from all over the world.